The Ballard News-Tribune just wrote about the Benito Chicago Eatery surviving as a small Ballard restaurant for 15 months, but now they will have competition in a fairly unfulfilled niche in Seattle: Patxi's Chicago Pizza.

Patxi's is moving to the old Sanborn building (5323 Ballard Ave NW), around since 1901 (when it was a hardware store built by Gustavas B. Sanborn), and will be slinging pies when their buildout of their space is done, sometime next year.

The pizza joint is Palo Alto-based, created ten years ago with expert pizza maker Francisco "Patxi" Azpiroz at the helm. It's since expanded into a chain, with locations throughout California and Colorado. And now Ballard.

The chain has catapulted in the last few years. According to pizzamarketplace.com, Patxi's has experienced a three-year growth rate of 342 percent, with $14.2 million in revenue. In 2009, the brand's revenues were $3.2 million. The company has added 298 jobs in the past three years and now employs 418 people. (Phew.)

Still, it might see some competition in Ballard, where we take our pizza pretty seriously. In addition to Benito's, Patxi's will be joining Delancey's, Ballard Pizza Company, Flying Squirrel Pizza, Palermo Pizza and Pasta, Zayda Buddy's Pizza and Bar and Veraci Pizza.

If you haven't been walking by, you'll notice that the Sanborn building is getting its own renovation -- It's getting turned into an office building. We'll have more on that next week. (Don't worry, it'll retain much of the same character as before, though a floor is getting added on one side.)

To learn more about Patxi's, visit http://www.patxispizza.com/

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